Female Marines report for new combat jobs

Corps evaluating female assignments to ground combat units

Sgt. Vanessa Jones and her Female Engagement Team on patrol with infantrymen in Marjah, Afghanistan in 2010. The Corps is considering whether women should be allowed to serve as riflemen.
— Nelvin C. Cepeda / Photo by Nelvin C. Cepeda, San U

Sgt. Vanessa Jones and her Female Engagement Team on patrol with infantrymen in Marjah, Afghanistan in 2010. The Corps is considering whether women should be allowed to serve as riflemen.
— Nelvin C. Cepeda / Photo by Nelvin C. Cepeda, San U

The first female Marines began reporting for duty Friday for positions with combat units newly opened to them, including personnel assigned to Camp Pendleton, Marine officials said.

The Corps plans to open 371 jobs to women under a Defense Department “exception to policy” overriding longtime ground combat restrictions. Women already serve in air combat, on battle ships and at the brigade level of ground combat units. The new jobs previously available only to men will allow them to formally serve at the battalion level.

The first batch of 44 female Marines, including 14 officers and 30 senior non-commissioned officers, were cleared to begin new assignments Friday with artillery, tank, amphibious assault, combat engineer, combat assault, and low altitude air defense battalions, according to Marine Manpower and Reserve Affairs at Quantico, Va.

They will serve with 19 battalions across the Marine Corps’ three divisions, in administration, communication, motor transport, logistics, and supply jobs.

The female Marines were unavailable Friday to comment on their new assignments, Marine public affairs staff said.

The new ground combat assignments for female Marines are among nearly 14,000 military jobs being opened to women on an experimental basis. The change is in response to a congressional mandate and recognition of the deep contributions of women at war over the last decade.

Women constitute about 15 percent of the armed forces. More than 280,000 have served since 2001 in Iraq and Afghanistan, where nearly 150 have been killed and more than 800 wounded.

In February, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta directed military leaders to evaluate additional steps to eliminate gender-based barriers to service. Gender-neutral physical standards are also being considered.

The services are expected to report their findings to him in November.

The Corps, like the other services, is researching the impact of assigning women to these new positions on unit cohesion, physical and other performance issues, injury rates, facilities costs and other measures.

The commandant and the sergeant major of the Marine Corps will consider results of the research before they submit their recommendations, said Maj. Shawn Haney, spokeswoman for a Corps planning team on assigning women to combat units established in January 2011.

“We believe there are many areas in which we can expand opportunities for women to serve and contribute. We are taking a deliberate approach in identifying those areas,” Haney said.

“Opening positions to a wider population of skilled personnel will maximize our capabilities, provide a greater pool to draw from, and reduce the operational tempo for those Marines who are currently deploying,” she added.

The Marine Corps is also opening 60 positions for female Navy personnel to serve on battalion staff as medical officers, chaplains, and hospital corpsmen.

The first female Marines had reported for duty for the new assignments with the 1st Marine Division by mid-day Friday -- the first day they could do so, said 2nd Lt. Spencer Kenyon, a division spokesman.

The unit headquartered at Camp Pendleton is accepting women into its 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion, the 1st Tank Battalion, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, and four artillery battalions in the 11th Marine regiment.

The Marine Corps is not opening infantry and reconnaissance battalions to females yet, although female Marines in specialized units have been "attached" to them in the past instead of formally assigned. But it will collect performance data to help evaluate the potential for female infantry when it sends the first women through its Infantry Officer Course this year. Female enlisted Marines will also be allowed into the Infantry Training Battalion.